OVERRATED, UNFUNNY, TINA FEY, DISSES JON STEWART

In the current issue ofReader’s Digest, former Saturday Night Live cast member, Tina Fey, takes some shots at The Daily Show and its wildly popular host, Jon Stewart. Fey says Stewart makes audiences clap more than he makes them laugh.

“My friend Seth Meyers coined the term ‘clapter,’ which is when you do a political joke and people go, ‘Woo-hoo.’ It means they sort of approve but didn’t really like it that much. You hear a lot of that on [whispers] ‘The Daily Show.’

A snotty Fey then adds she prefers it when audience members laugh rather than applaud because,

And God knows nobody at Saturday Night Live ever played up to the audience for applause. Hell, Chevy Chase’s whole schtick was falling down while impersonating Gerald Ford. And he only INVENTED Weekend Update.

Fey’s comments are disturbing on so many different levels that I’m not even sure where to start. But, let’s start with this: Tina Fey is probably one of the most accomplished female comics in history. Just check the record:

In 2007, Fey was nominated for an Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy for her role in 30 Rock.

In 2008, she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical.

And Fey won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series in January.

Fey is also the current star and creative force behind NBC’s 30 Rock making her one of the most important women in the television industry. The show itself won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series.

Unfortunately, all of the awards and acclaim mask one very important fact about Tina Fey. SHE’S NOT FUNNY.

In a decade of watching her on tv I can remember exactly 0 times that she made me laugh. And unlike multitudes of her fellow SNL alum, Fey created exactly 0 memorable characters.

Besides, if Fey wants to use making people laugh as a measure of success, well then she’s NO KIRSTIE ALLEY.

Or Shelley Long.

After all, Fey is part of the current NBC lineup that has taken two generations of Must See TV and turned it into just another Thursday night.

It’s laughable that Tina Fey would give Jon Stewart comedic or anchoring advice when she wasn’t even as good as Dennis Miller.

Hell, Fey was upstaged on a weekly basis by Jimmy Fallon.

And he’s an IMBECILE.

Actually, if you think about it, the Readers Digest comments were probably the funniest lines she EVER delivered.

And just why would the brains behind the moribound and TRULY UNFUNNY 30 Rock (the woman was the 14th best person to do Saturday Night Live Weekend Updates) feel compelled to give advice to anyone. Let alone a guy who’s revolutionized a format that she was a part of?

An entire generation now looks to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as their primary source of news and information. Stewart is featured in Time, Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly and People Magazine. Advertisers are clammering, BEGGING to be a part of his show.

All generations find Tina Fey irrelevant.

Fey appeals to the over-60 Hillary Clinton demo that never got around to getting cable and is still stuck watching network tv. The Readers Digest demo if you will.

The head writer for SNL criticizing Stewart on not getting enough laughs is like Microsoft criticizing Apple for being unimaginative when it comes to technology.

I saw a clip of Seth Meyers do a live “improv” show in Amsterdam. Result : snorefest. I think there was like one laugh in a five minute set… Compare that to Jon Stewart live and you got all the answers you need.

I am so sick of these mediocre, *bland* SNL robots. If there is one word I would describe Tina Fey and Seth Meyers with its that : blandness.

Tina Fey is a no talent azz clown that has single handedly drug SNL into the pits of damnation. I can’t believe a show with the history and reputation on SNL would put a nitwit like Tina Fey in charge of it.

Her writing is SOOOOOOOOOOO BAD that I used to get angry when I would watch her SNL skits, especially weekend update.

I refuse to watch any tv show or movie that she is involved with. Furthermore, I close my internet browser the second that she shows up un the Yahoo homepage for some BS headline.

I know there are others that share my utter disgust for this woman, not just becasue she is unfunny, untalented, and unwatchable, but because she thinks that she is the female Dave Chappelle!!

The Truth: She is the worst kind of liberal who thinks any1 who disagrees with her is evil. She tries to push her political views on people by using the (used to be) great SNL as a platform, what a disgrace.

I advise everyone to avoid buying or watching anything that she is involoved with. She is trying to drag American into the pits of damnation and I won’t let it happen.

Tina Fey is hilarious, but her take on the Daily Show comes off as elitest and ignorant at the same time. SNL is finally funny again, occasionally, but the Daily Show and the Colbert Report have surpassed it as American Institutions.

You’re full of crap…you clearly are Tina Fey’s stalker and will say anything to try to make her look like something other than what she is: an unfunny ass clown who’s kinda hot.

SNL definitely did use laugh tracks and they most certainly did have to use them regularly during the 4 year abyss of unfunnyness that was Weekend Update with Jimmy “the Fag” Fallon and Tina “Zero Talent But Gave Head To Executives All” Fay!

I noticed that the only ppl that find tina fey hilarious are those stuggling actors that havent gotten their big break and never will. I used to work with two guys that were trying to get into show biz and they really found 30 rock hilarious. I dont see what all the buzz is about. Tina Fey needs a reality check. She is really not funny. I crack a smile here and there on some of her pathetic skits but for the most part she really his kinda dry lame “i want to fit in i think im cool” humor. I hate her. Struggling actors seem like they have that lame sense of humor and those are the ppl that eventually made her get those emmys. How unfunny can they get?? seriously Tina Fey should get over herself shes not great….or even good…or even decent…infact she should just get off the air and retire. its stupid lame high school girl humor. Her 30 rock show only appeals to nitwits that are not funny themselves and is why they cant make it in show biz. Tina fey is lame and so are her fans.

Tina Fey is an overrated snotty untalented condescending bland jack of all trades. She is less than mediocre as an actress, writer, creator, etc. She is and was the reason I stopped watching SNL. The show was elitist, racist and plain NOT FUNNY.

I have nothing against racist elitist humor if it actually is funny.

The only people who think she is talented or funny are those pathetic guys who have eyeglass fetishes, ie, think librarians are sexy.

It worries me that she has been able to get the acclaim and power she has. Entertainment must really be all about connections and ass kissing if someone like her has made it this big. There is a lot of bullshit brainwashing in the media if I am supposed to think she is funny.

I agree. Fey is overrated, and so are people like Alec Baldwin, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. It probably wouldn’t be such an issue if Big Media didn’t insist on ramming Fey, Baldwin, Branjolena and Oprah down our throats every 17 minutes on TV, radio and the Internet. Fey isn’t funny. Carol Burnett was funny. Gilda Radner was funny. Madeline Kahn was funny. Craig Ferguson is funny. Funny is when that person makes you laugh out loud. I can’t think of anyone, even my friends who adore Tina Fey (blah!), who really, truly laughs out loud at Fey’s work. SNL has used politcs, now more than ever, as a crutch, which has somewhat saved its ratings over the last few years. It has become a show that has left true comedy for cheap political shots, thanks to Tina Fey. I love it how Big Media treats Fey as if she is the only person to write and produce, ever. What about Barbara Streisand? I’m not a fan, but I’ll admit she is more talented than Fey. I sure wouldn’t brag about being the head writer for SNL over the last few years. Really, Will Ferrell was the last, truly great SNL cast member, and he’s been gone for how many years? Heck, the 1984-85 season, with Martin Short, Christopher Guest, Billy Crystal and, for half that season, Harry Shearer, was better than any SNL season in the last 8 or 9 years (or more).

I guess good for Tina Fey being successful, but I really don’t know how she has done it. I don’t think her, or her writing is funny at all. 30 Rock with 22 emmys, are you kidding me??? Shows like that get all the hype and ratings, while brilliant shows like Arrested Development get no support…what a joke.

She really is dreadful. Nothing funny about her at all. I couldn’t stand what she did to SNL and 30 Rock is all Lefty Propaganda. I can’t believe GE stockholders are supporting this clearly highly political agenda. They should have to register as a lobbying firm.

Found this when googling “Tina Fey overrated.” Glad to know someone agrees with me – and you posted this before she became the acclaimed “impersonator” that she supposedly is now (gag me). And don’t get me started on Seth Myers…his term “clapter” is ironic, as SNL relied on that type of response from the audience all last season. Insult a conservative (without it even being funny), get some clapter. That’s their drill now. Can you do a post on Seth Myers being an arrogant pr*%k? If so, this will be my new favorite blog. But back to TF: Her entire schtick consists of two catch phrases: Telling people to “Suck it” and calling them “nerds.” Seriously, that’s it. Wow, that’s edgy stuff. THIS is all you need to be Entertainer of the Year?! Oh, I see: Someone who says “Suck it, nerds” in one of her jobs, AND returns to her old job for the sole purpose of playing an integral role in the defeat of the Republican nominee via trashing his running mate – now THAT’S an Entertainer of the Year! But the ones who “don’t get it” are the dumb ones, right? Suck it, TF.

SNL “liberal”? C’mon… do you actually WATCH this show? Most of the headwriters in the show’s history have been libertarians or P.J. O’Rourke style National Lampoon conservatives. Guys like Tony Hendra and the like who, in their old age, are more like neo-coms than liberals like Al Franken who is the one notable exception as head writers of SNL go. And Franken did REAL political humor back in the 70s on SNL when he was just a feature player and writer and it was scream out loud funny. Fey is the kind of blue collar, catholic school civic minded good girl type who is just as much Republican Conservative as working class child of immigrants Democrat. Her “Bitch is the New Black” rant on Hillary Clinton early in the election season was as much the voice of older women and working class folk deriding the aspirations of minorities as any call to liberal arms.

Fey & Myers are of a piece.. anti-political in general and like Dennis Miller or Colin Quinn or most people they have a “That’s just the way it is” philosophy which they share with most Americans. Even in rap music there is that divide between radicals who talk about some great grand change or revolution that needs to happen and those guys who just wanna get a rolls royce.. guess who tends to win out in those battles. Same with all entertainment and same with SNL… which is a show about midwesterners and canadians hijacking the New York comedy scene on TV each week. Belushi was the ultimate Chicagoan and if he lacked anything in his comedy it certainly wasn’t balls! But REAL New Yorkers have rarely featured on SNL… Eddie Murphy is all I can think of right now. The only consistent liberal voice on SNL in the past 10 years was Robert Smigel whose perspective was merciless and hysterical… for him to poop on!

My two cents… but all that to say.. I still can’t believe when I’m dragged in to watch this show by people who try to EXPLAIN the humor to me.. like I don’t get it. The same people who don’t get Monty Python or underground comedy will just watch this s***y show go by and fall over dead as if ANYTHING they hand to the Tracy Lawrence character or the ENTIRE dumbassery around the Jane Kwiatowski character is even remotely funny. I have to look at poor Jane and the look on her face is like “I can’t believe my career is stuck trying to save the ass of this worthless show.. but I can’t QUIT because we just won another 50 emmys!” If this show was as funny as it was supposed to be it could NEVER win an emmy!!!! Tina Fey is the most snide repressed “ain’t these black folks crazy” passive aggressive I’ve ever seen in my life and like that movie conspiracy theory where all the programmed killers read Catcher in the Rye.. so too do all the madwomen in one’s life seem to gravitate to this show. I no longer hate those who love this show.. I really pity them.. it’s like old women who feed birds in the park faintly cheered that the pigeon is nibbling the bread! Thank goodness the show is so low rated and always on the bubble.. maybe they’ll cancel it when they give up on Leno. Can you believe it has come to this just 30 years after Carol Burnett last MELTED DOWN weekly on Saturday nights? Seeing Tina’s heartless smirk and fart ‘n cheese humor makes me long for the tarzan yell!

Ok.. sorry this note is so long.. I’m too much of a s****head to admit I hate the f**** out of this show and the writing of Tina Fey and the UTTER DELUSION of Tracy Lawrence and Alec Baldwin and Tina’s phony “stewardship” of this semi-talented basket case… and how ironic it is that the show is just a PARODY of precisely what is REALLY HAPPENING to the poor bastard.. he’s just TALENT shoved in front of the camera with a string of bad skits, bad films and bad comic ideas that he’s known for and YOU’RE WATCHING IT!!

That being said.. I do have to say that the Palin imitation was pretty spot on as political broadside humor. The fact is by now we realize that Sarah Palin’s situation is funnier than ANYTHING they went near in those skits. And the best thing they did in the skits was to be minimalist about it.. using Palin’s own words against her and taking Fey’s one minor accomplishment.. adapting the MEAN GIRLS treatise into a script.. when the Mean Girl appeared on the national stage.. Fey’s resemblance and identification with that film made her a natural for the portrayal. Unfortunately.. as I predicted… Fey would be personally reluctant to reprise her Palin and SNL seems reluctant to do it UNLESS she is willing to do it which she won’t because she doesn’t want to be seen as gratuitously attacking the woman, doesn’t need the conservative ire and death threats, and promised her mother not to keep doing it because it upset her. They should have taken their chances on letting Casey Wilson try her hand at it. In any case… SNL missed some golden Palin opportunities throughout 2009 and we’ll see how badly Fey is willing to get some more publicity for the still flagging 30 Rock if the release of Going Rogue forces her to submit to Lorne Michaels and NBC’s EXTREME pressure to get her back on it!

Good posts all around. Tina Fey is incredibly overrated in everything she does. I agree that she was head writer of SNL during its absolute worst years. Pretentious and unfunny.

30 Rock is a decent show but it winning emmys and other awards over The Office (especially during the first four years of The Office) is absolutely laughable. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised though. 30 Rock is set in New York City and The Office has never portrayed NYC or the big city lifestyle as the be-all-end-all.

Tina Fey is an unfunny hack. She presided over the worst years of SNL in recent memory. Her 30 Rock show sucks. Her movies suck. Her acting sucks. She is an ugly whore with a scar on her face. She needs to do the world a favor and stop writing material or appearing on camera.

I actually can’t decide who is more overrated, Fey or Stewart. They are easily two of the most overrated comedians of all time. I’m sure that they are nice people, and they both seem intelligent, however neither one of them deserves anywhere near the accolades that they receive.

Examples of truly funny people are Larry David, Christopher Guest, Eddy Murphy in the 80’s, Chris Rock in the 90’s, Ricky Gervais in the British version of the Office, Rodney Dangerfield, etc. Neither Fey or Stewart are near the level of those that I mentioned. Comedians today like Brian Regan and Jim Norton are far funnier as well.

Sometimes I’m really surprised by how excited (agro) people get about stuff like this.
Wow, if you like Fey, watch her. If you don’t, don’t.
I like Fey. I also like Stewart. Can’t we all just get along?

I agree fully with Tina Fey. I find her subtle humor intelligent and rare. As for Jon Stewart, I can even stand to hear his horrible Heb voice. And he had to drop his Jew name (of course Jon without the “h” is often a clue) and select a Scottish one. Nice job trying to blend, big nose. Doesn’t work. You’re an unfunny, stupid, bore. I know you’re married with kids but I also know you sleep with men. This is long documented. You suck, literally!

The thing no one seems to remember is that SNL was dreadful when Fey was head writer. Then again, is dreadful 98% of the time. Occasionally they hit one out of the park, but the batting average is generally very low. Even in the much vaunted Chase-Ackroyd heyday, it got very few real laughs. Out of thousands of hours of TV, we probably remember fewer than five.